Hi Guys, Ive recently purchased a 2005 dodge ram 5.7 hemi with a blown engine. I got a 2007 short block and put the lifters & heads off of the 2005 on it and had to run the rockers and push rods from the 2007. One of the lifters from the 2005 is clacking away like crazy and driving me nuts. I was wondering if the 8 lifters from the 2007 engine that are non mds are the same as the lifters from the 2005 engine. That way I can get rid of the noise for the price of a head gasket and one head bolt kit. Does anyone ever re-use there head bolts or do you replace them every time?

 

You wont find non mds lifters in any 06+ unless they have ready been manually swapped out. Lifters are sold in sets of 4 incase you want/need to know. I have reused head gaskets and retorqued the head bolts once before. You can try to get away with it 2x and see what happens. New head gaskets and bolts should run about $100

 

I ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, replace the head studs (bolts) any time I take the head off.... mainly b/c they see a lot of stress and actually deform when you torque them, and then they deform just a little bit more when the engine is run due to the force from the combustion in the cylinders...

So you can risk it, but personally I recommend you change them and be on the safe side as you don't want to snap one of those when you torque them down again, nor do you want the head to lift and bust your head gasket.

As for the lifter question.... I am honestly not sure, but mixing and matching non-MDS and MDS parts will cause funny noises I can imagine... but it might be another issue in there..... I would read up on the specific procedures and the "tribal knowledge" of old-school experts to see if maybe you're missing something.